Geneva

We are on our way home from a short but delightful visit which brought us into both Switzerland and France. Happily, we have enough time in Geneva to have a brisk walk around. We start at the Place du Molard which has a delightful tower on the corner: Molard Tower, built in 1591 and reconstructed several times The last renovation took place in 1906-1907.

 Looking back we spot this rather wonderful creature.

 

At the far end of the Place is a fascinating slender obelisk. A closer look reveals that the obelisk appears to be standing on four round balls - and there is a further larger one at the top.

In nearby Rue de la Croix D'Or there are some impressive buildings in an unfamiliar, but imposing, style. I suppose they are 19th century.

 

 

We head now towards the celebrated Cathedral, passing this lovely fountain ...

 

... and the covered passageway up to St Peter's Cathedral.

St Peter's Cathedral is a former Catholic Church built in the late 12th century, but later modified. It became a Protestant church during the Reformation. 

 

 

At the rear of the church are a surprising white tower and a fleche.

 

 

We couldn't resist climbing to the roof, which gave us a wonderful view over part of Lake Geneva and the famous Jet d'Eau

 

 

Also from the tower there was a great view down of the nearby roof tiles. I thought that the colours in this one were especially appealing.

 

We then passed an intriguing group of three cannons with three descriptive panels behind them. They were captured by the Austrians in 1814 and moved to Vienna, but later restored to their original position in 1815.

 

 

We continued along the Treille Promenade. It is famous for having the the longest wooden bench in the world: 120m! It is also where “Geneva official chestnut tree” (le “marronnier officiel” in french) is located. Each year, Its first leaf announce the arrival of spring in Geneva .

 

 

 At the end you emerge into a busy square dominated by the imposing Grand Theatre of Geneva.

 

 

We continued, passing this interesting building, now dealing in wealth management ...

 ... to reach the final building on our route which is the Statue of Philibert Berthelier at the bottom of this impressive tower. Berthelier was a Genevan patriot and an uncompromising enemy of the Duke of Savoy in his ambition to control Geneva. Berthelier was arrested in August 23, 1519, and was tried for treason.  After a summary trial, Berthelier was found guilty and was sentenced to death by beheading. The sentence was carried out on the same day.

Autumn colours around Mont Blanc

We started this walk from the Ski centre at Le Bettex, gradually climbed with snowless mountains behind us. After a while we started to encounter some lovely autumn colours.

 

 

And as we climbed higher clear views of Mont Blanc came into view and more foliage allowed further lovely photos. Mont Blanc is the highest peak, but what is not so obvious is how how much higher it is from the next nearest peak: something like 3000 metres.

 Le Mont D'Arbois brought us even more dramatic views.

The last leg back to Le Bettex was muddy and slippery, but well worth the earlier sights.

The Barrage of Emosson

                                                   The Barrage of Emosson, Switzerland

The Émosson Dam (Le Barrage d'Émosson in French) is a hydroelectric dam development located in Switzerland in the canton of Valais. Work began in 1967, and commissioning took place in 1975, eight years later. It is fed by the waters of the Mont Blance massif.

You can walk along the top of the dam (rails make it unlikely that you will fall over the edge) and once you get to the other side there is a wide path which follows the contours of the lake. Eventually it is possible to climb to a cafe quite up up the mountain side.

We hadn't walked around the barrage before and we were keen to take advantage of the opportunity to see the vivid autumn colours. What follows is an assortment of views of the barrage, especially the mountainous ones, and the wonderful plants.